Links:

• Dan Walters has a eulogy for Don Peterson a centrist from Humboldt County who lobbied for local governments. And the Bee also has an obituary for Paul Gerowitz, a longtime Assembly staffer and executive director of the state’s criminal defense lawyers group.

• CalPERS is looking at cutting long-term care benefits for its members.

• At the SoCal ports, exports are up, but imports are down.

• The Oakland A’s are looking to get a stadium deal in the South Bay, but the proposed stadium is in the Giants “exclusive area.” So, there’s going to be a tussle before anything happens.

• The folks at Consumer Watchdog do not like what Mercury Insurance is up to with its “continuous coverage discount initiative.” They say it’s just a surcharge for anybody who decides to stop coverage for whatever reason, leaving the country for a while (ie soldiers), deciding to ditch the car for a while, whatever.

Links:

• Arnold did a bit more greenwashing of his record in Copenhagen. Even I have to give Arnold some credit here, he does have a very good point about needing the broader framework. While it is great that California is working to limit greenhouse gases, we need other states and nations to be working just as hard if this is ever going to really succeed.

• Josh Richman looks at Steve Poizner’s long history of dumping millions into his campaigns after he announced that he’s putting $15 mil into the governor bid.

• The LA City Council is thinking of creating a “ratepayer advocate” at the Department of Water and Power.

• The CalPERS board is set to approve a small increase in the state’s annual contribution to the fund.

• A new report shows health care costs have gone up far faster than the cost of living overall since 2001.

Links:

• Steve Poizner dumped $15 million into his own campaign.  That should at least get some more attention for his struggling campaign.

• PG&E and other utilities are installing smart electric meters around the state. However, some people aren’t so happy with their performance. There are allegations of faulty readings and excess costs that users end up paying for.

• Oakland is following Berkeley in allowing residents to finance solar panel installations via their property tax bills.

• Humboldt County has been a beneficiary of the medical marijuana legislation in some ways. Others argue that it has changed the culture for the worse.

Links for your weekend:

• Gil Cedillo is not backing down from his plan to run against Speaker-elect John Perez. However, he is now suggesting that Perez move to Kevin De Leon’s district to run in that seat, and De Leon can run for the termed out Cedillo’s seat.  Or something.

• Way too many children who qualify for free breakfasts are not getting them. The program really has astonishing results; we really need to improve takeup of the program.

• Former CDP Chair Art Torres got a big pay raise.  He will also be responsible for the government relations work now.

• H1N1 vaccine is getting more common around the state.

Links:

• The FPPC wants better disclosure and transparency rules at the prison receiver’s office and the Dept. of corrections. They say there are some untold conflicts of interest which need some more sunlight.

• More CalPERS news: It’s firing a group of real estate investment advisors, perhaps a few years too late. The CalPERS board is also declining to take positions on several bills that would increase benefits, a change from the recent past.

• Oh Noes! The New York Times got the make of Jerry Brown’s famous 70s-mobile wrong in their front page story on Sunday. It’s a 1974 Plymouth Satellite, people!

• The delays of unemployment checks, due likely to EDD’s computer problems, could be causing some delayed recipients to become homeless.

Links:

• John Wildermuth says that wind you felt from Sacramento might just have been the exhaling of consultants concerned with the Prop 8 Ruling that would have set a precedent of allowing their notes to be forced into the public. Speaking of Prop 8, Bruce Springsteen supports marriage equality in New Jersey.

• Maybe the housing market isn’t that bad now. Or maybe it is artificially inflated due to the tax credit.

• The state unemployment computer system stinks. The system is delaying checks because it is having problems with the extension of benefits.

• With Paul Krekorian looking good for his City Council seat, the race to take his Assembly seat is off and running.  Mike Gatto is claiming that he has already banked $200K for the race.

What else is going on?

• The Secretary of State’s office has approved Alameda County’s ranked choice voting system, so it will go into effect for next year’s elections. That will likely include the evenutal election of Ron Dellums’ successor.

• It’s telcos v consumer groups on the confirmation to the PUC of Rachelle Chong.

• Several major nurses unions have joined forces to increase their national influence.

• Who is going to answer the OC Fair Board’s legal questions now that they’ve been dropped by the AG’s office.

Links and stuff

• The Bee looks at the abstain tactic as a way to kill bills. It turns out that you need half of the total number of possible votes, so simply not voting is akin to voting no.

• CalBuzz looks at three questions about the governor’s race.

• The Democratic LG Candidates are raising cash today. Hahn is in Oakland, Florez is in LA.

• This is a great new tool from the Bee: The voting record of all legislators during the session. It’s about time that somebody came up with this. Good work, SacBee folks.

Some links for your weekend.

• Sen. Romero is working on legislation to block election losers from getting unemployment for their old elected offices.

• California progressives are leading the charge against the escalation in Afghanistan.

• The Sacramento Utilities Distrct got some federal grant money for n energy storage test.

• And finally, for you uber-nerds, check out the Capitol Notes podcast with John Myers and Anthony York. They’re taking a look at some of the musical chairs for 2010.

What’s up?

• The recall Anthony Adams recall proponents are thinking of suing their signature gathering firm. The firm got a 42% validity rate in San Bernardino County, and missed the goal.

• Given their responsibilites, the average salaries of legislative staff is right in line with private sector employees.

• W00t! I can finally have the genius that is Ronald Reagan on my iPhone. If you would like something a bit more useful, check the iPhone app store or the Android marketplace for the Calitics app.

• A city council member in Daly City, a SF suburb, has been indicted on workers comp fraud.

• SEIU Local 1000 carried out a strike of sorts in October, telling their members to stay home on Columbus day, despite the deletion of the Columbus day holiday. However, there’s no data on how many people stayed home from work and how much of an impact it really had.